


Of Oil and Offspring

by Sweaters (Guhs)



Series: Pale Danvivor [11]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Cutesy, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, M/M, Nobody Likes Synth Shaun but Nobody Has a Problem with Synth Danse, Other, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:49:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21614101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guhs/pseuds/Sweaters
Summary: What better way to bring two robots together than by bonding over another, less sentient robot?
Relationships: (Familial I swear to God), (IMPLIED), Paladin Danse & Synth Shaun (Fallout), Paladin Danse/Male Sole Survivor, Paladin Danse/Nate (Fallout), Synth Shaun & Male Sole Survivor
Series: Pale Danvivor [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1290056
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	Of Oil and Offspring

Seemingly overnight, the settlement Synth count had gone from zero to one, and then suddenly jumped up to three, and this was far too much for the residents of Sanctuary.

Nick was one thing. He was aware of his status, didn’t pretend to be anything other than what he was, and what he was was a machine. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Danse was… a gray area for most. Yes, he was a synth, straight from the underbelly of the Institute itself… but he wasn’t dangerous. He didn’t have a wake word, death protocols -- he wasn’t a sleeper agent. He didn’t even know how to process the information, and that was more than enough to ease the minds of many of the settlement’s residents. They trusted him, and maybe that led them to think that he, too, was just another victim of the Institute’s treachery.

Now, Shaun… Shaun was a separate entity. A league all of his own, and nobody could quite understand why. Maybe it was the fact that he was Father’s own pet project. Maybe it was the fact that he was designed to look just like the man as a child, to simulate Nathan’s own son. Whatever it was, no matter the quality of his creation… he was far too uncanny. Too close for comfort.

Still, they tolerated him, because he was their leader’s ‘son’, for better or worse. And because they were afraid, maybe. He played in the yard, walked the street, climbed trees, read comic books, tinkered on this or that like any other ten-year-old boy might. But nobody would come near him. Nobody except Nick and Nate, the former of which still regarded him with serious trepidation. And Nate…

Well, Nate would probably never be able to process the trauma of the situation. But that’s not for here.

It was on one such regular day that Shaun found himself in his backyard playing fetch with Dogmeat, the only other creature that would have anything to do with him.

“Come on boy, come on boy! Do you want the ball?”

“Woof!”

“Go get it!”  _ Whip.  _ **_Woosh._ ** Ka-thunk-  **_bang_ ** . The baseball went soaring … directly through the wire mesh that covered the kitchen window, and into what  _ sounded  _ like one of the lanterns inside. Dogmeat stopped dead in his tracks, glancing back at the similarly frozen Shaun with a whine.

“It’s okay, boy.” Who was he reassuring? “I’ll get your ball. Don’t worry.”

Shaun crept around the side of the house, intense dread building in his chest with every step closer to the door. His dad was out on a supply run to Diamond City, which meant that he was essentially left to his own devices. Except… he wasn’t exactly alone. Well -- he never  _ was  _ alone; people lived in this settlement year-round. But…

Shaun’s pace slowed to a crawl as he pulled open their security door, crept around their furniture with a profound fear of what he was going to find. And lo, there it was: a lamp. An original. His dad said it had been in this house since before the war, and after taping up the cord and replacing the blub, it still somehow worked. And there it laid upon the rug, perfectly intact save for the lampshade decapitation it had suffered.

“We’re safe, Dogmeat. That was a close one, huh, boy?” Petting his canine companion with rejuvenated vigor, Shaun replaced the lamp and lampshade and collected his baseball to continue playing.

**_VrrrrrrKACHUNK. Chunk- VRRRRRRRR-_ **

Eyes both canine and Homosapien shot toward the other end of the living room, at the bright red door which led to their makeshift garage. The man on the other side of the door was the reason Shaun wasn’t ever really alone, but he was also the main reason he felt so lonely.

“I think we should leave him alone. Come on, pal.”

**VRRRRRRRRCHUNK-** “ _ Mother of-- _ ”  _ Clatter _ .

Curiosity got the better of him. Despite the cautious whines of his canine companion - Dogmeat really seemed to be more sentient than was good for him - Shaun put the baseball aside and approached the door with all the conviction of a wet noodle.

The first thing that hit him when he opened the heavy door was the very strong smell of turpentine. Then, it was the soft country radio playing. Lastly, it was--

“Fuck! How long have you been standing there?!” Shaun jumped at the noise, head swiveling toward one Former Paladin Danse in the far corner, standing with a rag wrapped around his hand beside a very disassembled power armor frame.

“I-”  
“Sorry, let me try that again. You… took me by surprise, is all.” Danse sighed, propping against the arm of his small couch as he checked his hand. “What do you need, Shaun? Are you ...okay?”  
“I’m okay. I- ...Sorry. Dad says I shouldn’t bother you when you’re out here, I just… heard…”

Stale silence. That was par for the course when they were alone together. No matter what, there was always some kind of a disconnect. Trying to invent a conversation was always a bit like searching for the meaning of life: pointless.

“Are- are  _ you  _ okay? What was that noise? Are you bleeding? Should I go find-”

“No. No, I’m fine. Just a little nick, mostly just surprised me. Looks worse than it feels.” The former Paladin almost smiled, and that made them both uncomfortable.

Shaun’s eyes drifted up to the suit hung up on the power armor stand, missing a good majority of its pieces. “What are you working on?”

“Uh… Upgrades. New suit means I need new parts.” Another long pause punctuated by Danse fussing with his hand. “Say, have- have you seen… of course you’ve seen…”  _ Sigh _ . “Do you wanna take a look at it? The suit. I know that you like tinkering with things. At least, that’s what your-- my-- Nathan has told me.”

Despite the awkwardness of the statement, Shaun lit up brighter than the sun itself, all feelings of dread immediately lifting off his shoulders. “You mean it? A real, live  _ power armor suit _ ?” He practically flew into the garage, all but tripping over his own two feet. Pretty graceful for a robot.

“Just- be careful. There are still a lot of… pokey… bits.”  
“Don’t worry, I deal with a lot of sharp stuff when I’m experimenting!”  
“That’s comforting to know.”

In a flash, Shaun was crouched by the suit, following the metallic curves and rivets of its frame, wiggling every little bolt and screw he could get his hands on. “Wow, this is awesome. Did you build this entire thing yourself?”  
“Yes and no. I found the frame with a few missing parts and just… found or built whatever else I needed. It’s not the prettiest, but it’s sturdy.”  
“Were you installing an optimized servo into this leg piece?” This silence was a little less stale.  
“I was. Into that port, where the joints meet. You really know your stuff, don’t you?”  
“Yeah, I really like building things. It’s all I ever did back at the Institute.”

Right, the Institute… Danse would be the first to admit that he didn’t exactly like the kid or what he represented. Some part of him knew it wasn’t his fault what had happened, wasn’t his fault that he was created, but another, larger part always wondered why he was assigning any form of humanity to a machine. He’d had a hard enough time figuring that out for himself. All the same…

The former Paladin glanced down at his hand and the muted stream of blood that had gotten bored with gushing. He was fine. He glanced up at Shaun, at the wondrous look in his eyes as he looked over the various tools strewn about, at the half-assembled leg, the electric drill that was responsible for this entire interaction. Maybe for once, he could afford to pretend that things weren’t absolutely awful.

“Do you want to try installing it? The servo, I mean.” Danse didn’t think the kid’s face could’ve gotten any brighter.  
“Really? By myself?”  
“Sure. Can’t hurt. I was using that drill, but… don’t do that. There’s a set of screwdrivers just over there.”

Before either of them knew it, they both found themselves alternately crouched and sat around the giant suit of armor, tools in hand, parts strewn about. Danse paid no mind to the thick wrap around his hand as he guided Shaun through the installation of the new cover plate for his leg piece, Tumbleweed Tunes crooning in the background and punctuated by instances of ‘You gotta use the wrench for this part’ and ‘Be careful, it’ll snap’ among other technical jargon.

By sunset, half the upgrades and repairs that Danse had intended spending his day on had been completed, and both he and Shaun, synths that they were, looked nothing short of satisfied to be covered in grease and other caustic chemicals as junk and scraps littered most of the ground around them.

Danse was sat back on the couch with a Nuka Cola when Nathan came through the door, immediately spotting Shaun in the corner with what looked like very expensive tech in his hands.

“There you are! Nobody knew where you went. Shaun, what did I tell you about bothering Danse while he’s working?”  
“It’s alright, Nathan. We’ve… been having a good time.”  
“Yeah! Dad, he’s been letting me work on his armor. He let me install the servo all by myself and then the mesh and I got to-”  
“Alright, pal. That all sounds like fun; why don’t you go catch a quick bath so you can tell me over dinner?”  
“Okay!”  
“Don’t forget that you have to help me with the rad scrubber tomorrow!”

Nate chuckled as he watched Shaun run off with an unusual spring in his step. Closing the door a hair, he settled onto the couch next to Danse and sighed. “I’m sorry if he was any trouble. I didn’t expect him to do the opposite of what I said to do.” Another short laugh. The topic of Shaun, if it wasn’t already glaringly obvious, was generally a tense one. Nate still didn’t know how to broach it like a normal conversation, because it never was one. 

“No, it’s alright. He’s very well-mannered. Very excitable.” Danse took a sip of his Nuka-Cola. “He looks so much like you, Nathan.”  
“I know. And he’s got so many of Nora’s features, too. Her nose and cheekbones, the way he talks. It’s…”  
“Uncanny?”  
“Yeah. I know he’s not human, that he won’t age or grow or become an adult, but I don’t know what that means for him. How do you raise an immortal child?” Nate sighed, rubbing the sides of his face. “I don’t know how to feel about him. He’s my son, but he’s not. My son is dead.”

Danse placed a cautious hand on Nate’s leg, took a moment to let the silence hang.

“What do you think Nora would want?” The question caught Nate off-guard. Maybe that was something he never considered. Of the two, Nora was the only one who ever seemed to be completely sure of herself and her decisions.  
“I… I don’t know. She was always open-minded, that’s part of what I loved about her. If he were any other child -- any other  _ synth  _ child, I think she would’ve wanted me to take care of him. But this is Shaun. And he’ll never grow up. It’s like he’s… some cruel reminder of everything I’ve lost. But I can’t just…”

The dinner bell rang loud through Sanctuary, and the clamor of settlers broke their little spell. Nate chuckled, running a hand over his very tired face. “More on this later, huh? Time to go save face.”

Danse rose with Nate, offering him a very sterile pat on the back. “You know I’ll be here if you need to talk, sold-  _ Nate _ . In the meantime… I may be out of line, but… maybe it’s about time to pay Nora a visit. You may find the peace you need to move forward.”

“I-”  
“Hey, Dad?!”  _ Deep breath _ .  
“What’s up, pal?”  
“The water won’t turn on!”

The two soldiers shared a  _ look _ , which quickly turned into an exhausted laugh on Nate’s part. “Be right there, pal!” The color seemed to almost drain from Nate’s face with every passing moment he spent worrying. “Duty calls.”

“Hey- for what it’s worth? He is… a good kid. Whatever that means for him.”  
“Yeah… thanks for spending time with him, Danse. He really likes you. Guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, huh?”  
“Oh-” But Nate was already gone. As he was cleaning up and mulling over the events of the day, that last parting statement, Danse could only come back to one question:

_ What’s an apple? _

**Author's Note:**

> At last, after a VERY long hiatus, I return!
> 
> The quality like ... REALLY isn't there but I've had the idea for a while and I just wanted to bang the bad boy out, y'know? A little sumn-sumn to let the ol' creative process stretch its legs. Life's been really crazy lately between school problems and enDLESS WORK and lowkey pseudo-relationship drama that came outta nowhere so uh, I thought we could all do with a little Daddy Danse fluff to get us through these hard times. ;)
> 
> Lowkey everyone hates Synth Shaun and I feel bad for the kid but also... he's such a fuckin' anomaly. He doesn't age, so what the hell is he supposed to do? Will he ever mentally mature? Or will he just ALWAYS be at this 10-year-old level since he was an experimental prototype that never had time to really be perfected?  
> Goddamn, Shaun was such a conniving little bastard. "Yes, dad; take this immortal child that will certainly outlive you as a consolation prize for having your entire life ripped from you!"
> 
> Also @HowRis: I know u suggested puppies but like that keeps translating as family fluff to me aCK IT'LL HAPPEN I PROMISE FOR NOW YOU GET BABIES
> 
> Anyway. Guess that's it. See ya.


End file.
